Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to class identification for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications, and more particularly, to application-based class identification which allows delay-sensitive M2M applications to have higher priority than delay-tolerant M2M applications and even non-M2M applications.
Description of the Related Art
For a long time, various machines have been provided to make our lives more convenient in every way. Generally, machines, nowadays, are equipped with computing processors and software to accommodate us with more intelligence-based services. With the advancement of wireless communications, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology has been developed to enable communications between remote machines for exchanging information and operating without human interaction. Especially for critical public infrastructures, such as water treatment facilities or bridges, M2M sensors may be employed to monitor the operation statuses of facilities and report measurement results back to control centers via wireless communication networks, such as a Global System for Mobile Communication/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), 1× Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (1× CDMA 2000) system, 1× High Rate Packet Data (1×HRPD) system, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, etc. This allows administrators of the critical public infrastructures to know if certain elements have been tampered with. Other applications may be earthquake monitoring, electric metering, gas/oil pipeline monitoring, or coke machine maintenance for reporting operation statuses to a centralized system via wireless communication networks, such that related services with higher efficiency and lower maintenance costs may be provided.
Taking the LTE technology in compliance with release 10 of the 3GPP specification as an example, a low priority indicator is defined for Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices to indicate that any M2M application initiated therefrom or thereto should be assigned with a priority level lower than the priority level of a non-M2M application, due to the fact that the amount of data per report is usually small and the data content therein is generally delay-tolerant. However, there are situations where the data content reported by an M2M application may be critical and delay-sensitive, e.g., an earthquake is detected by an earthquake monitoring application, or a leak of a monitored oil-pipeline is detected by an oil pipeline monitoring application. In these cases, assigning a low priority level to all M2M applications may cause serious delay for the delivery of the critical reports. In addition, as the number of different smart phones entering the mobile markets increases, network congestion may occur more easily than before. Thus, it is desirable to improve the way of class identification, so that priority levels may be assigned in an application-based manner, instead of a device-based manner, to guarantee privileged access for certain M2M applications and to improve network throughput.